Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs

Abstract

In the 1980's, child sexual abuse prevention (CSAP) programs proliferated across the country. Based upon a belief that sexual abuse of children was widespread and that only by engaging children in the process of their own protection could sexual abuse be stopped, millions of children have been taught to say no to bad touch, run away, and tell someone if they are touched in a way they don't like. CSAP programs may, unfortunately, be flawed in that most are developmentally inappropriate and conceptually unsound. In particular, by ignoring childhood sexuality and focusing at an early age and critical period of development on an aberrant form of sexual expression wihle failing to provide a context of normal sexual functioning, CSAP programs may be distorting sexual development. Effective prevention of sexual abuse requires attention to the development of the child's overall sexuality not just limited proscriptions about vaguely identified forms of adult/child touch. A model for sexual abuse prevention which considers normal sexual functioning and development is described.